I am on the verge of purchasing an auto hand gun for personal protection. I have narrowed my search down to two guns, the springfield armory XD9 and the Glock 19. Both guns are similar in design, weight, feel, etc. etc.. The Glock is about 100 bucks more. Does anyone have any insight, recommendations or comments on either of these guns or any other similar gun??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the insight. I hadn't heard about that saftey thing on the Glocks but now I'll think twice.... What model of the Smith & Wesson auto do you own/recommend? If you don't mind me asking, what did you give for it? Thanks again for your input..

Personally I happen to like Taurus for a semi-auto pistol. These are not auto fire pistols. Come on fellas lets not let the stupid media cloud up how these firearms actually work. What I like about the Taurus is the fact that you can get a double pistol so that you do not have to cock it for the first shot. They have an auto decocker that works great, so you do not have to manually decock the hammer and if your finger should slip while decocking it could go bang. They also have ambidexterous safeties. And they are less expensive Beratta's. Beratta owns Taurus and all of the Tauruses a machined on Beretta machines.

Smiths are good guns but personally I hate the high raised rear sites on them. But each to his own there. That is why there are more than one brand and type is it not.

Thanks for the response twoindyhicks! I was wondering if anyone other than releaseit would respond. I thank you for replying... I'm still on the fence about what weapon is best for me and my wife.. I need a gun that is small enough to conceal yet big enough for my wife to hold on to.. I'm gonna take her down to a local indoor gun range and shoot each model.. I never would have considered the Taurus before but now I'll definately give it a "shot"!

I dont know the experiance your wife has with handling guns, if she is a beginer you will want to start with a 25 caliber. if you start her off with a gun with larger calibers you may scare her or cause her to develope a bad flinch which could be more dangerous to the home than to intruders.

start with smaller and work your way up. have her on the range every week for the first couple months shooting 25 rounds in five round groopings, and if you have kids, get them out there as well, this way you wont have to worie about curious kids handling fire arms. allow them to shoot the guns on the range as well, especialy if they are between the ages of 6 and 10. you dont have to put them behind the biggest gun in your arsonal,

she dosnt have to be a marksman but you will at least want her shooting inside the 9 inch circle 5 for 5 at 25 yards. it important that when she picks up the gun that she feals comfortable and confident enough to pull the trigger in a crises situation.

the biggest baddest guns at your side will be of little use to you if you do not have the mental copasity and the phisical ability to handle the firearm.

I gotta say that I though my post here was dead. I'm happy to see that it's not and that I've been given some great insight and opinions, which I truly appreciate. I would like to clarify something I wrote in my last post on this topic. I said I was looking for something small enough to conceal yet big enough for the wife to hold on to. I meant actual gun size not caliber. I'm pretty set on the 9mm. When the wife and I went gun shopping last week she felt that the real small ones didn't fit her hand very well. The pistol grip was way too small and awkward. She felt that it would jump right out of her hand when fired. Concealability is important and so is comfort. Seems like there's a pretty delicate balance there between the two. My wife is a proficient shooter with our buckmark .22, so I figured we'd move up to somthing that can be used for personal protection. Once again, thanks fellas for all the great input so far and hope to get even more folks adding their 2 cents.

it is good to know whe can handle a .22 caliber, the reason I mentioned caliber insted of makes and modles is because, if you stick to the proven brand names like ruger, smith&wesson, colt, and a few others, you cant hardly go wrong with the worksmanship and reliability of the fire arm.

the reason I mentioned caliber is because you dont want to scare your shoter in to having a perminate flinch. I have seen the galls pull the triger on a 357 mag and have the gun jump right out of their hands. I have seen women shotting on the range who are cringing on the range because they are afraid of it. it realy is not worth jumping in to the larger calibers, it takes a long time to develop the mussles to hold the gun steady.

so what I am saying here is, if your gall has not been behind the plow in a couple years she will want to move up in steps. join a club where she can put her hands on the medium range guns or pick up a used gun that you dont plan on keeping and have her fire 500 - 1000 rounds before moving up.

I am not saying there arent exceptons, if she is shooting a 12 gage with 3 inch magnums or is shooting your 7 mm mag or 308 weatherby rifles, then the nine milimeger is a pea shooter compairison and she will be just fine.

the second reason I chose not to mention a make or modle is because for one I have never met you gall, so I would have no clue as to what would fit in to her hands. and two you may go through a hundred makes and modles before you find one that will fit her.

I thought the same thing about my hand guns, my first one was a .22 and I jumped up to the 357mag. the first few rounds I count hit the paper at 25 yards, I had to pick up an archery target to see just where my shots were flying.

remember when siting in the gun, you may have it set in for yourself to smack the bulls eye 11 out of 10 times, your galls eye is different and will change throug out time, so one gun between the two of you is not the optimum situation.

as for personal protection for carying around, most people in the bussniss carry 25 - 38 subnosed hanguns. (big on the handle short on the barol for fast action but is only good to a max of 25 yards.)

this is also why I mentioned earlier that you take this question to our sister site www.theoutdoorlodge.com for better answeres.

the nine millimeter lugers are nice guns, but I know of only a couple people who can hit the target on the 10th round in semiautomat firing. yes they are marksman. they will tell you the same thing. if you have to pull the triger make the first round count. any thing after that is just scatted rounds.

I am sure you have a frend on the force or in the service you could also pass this question on.

I think you did the right thing in taking the time to ask about them.

should you go ahead with the 9 mm keep telling your gall not to expect to hit the target for the first hundred rounds, dont even bother setting the sites for her untill after the 100th round. I am for real about this. let her shoot the 100 and do her best to aim the gun at the center of the target. then pick up an archery target to see where she is hitting. after 100 rounds she should begin to start shooting in groops. (or pattern) then and only then can you set the gun for her. if you set it to soon, you will constantly be resting the gun every week and she will loose all confidence in the gun. it is best that she just fires is in to a safe direction to build up the mussles.

dont shoot over 25 rounds per day, you wont be doing her or the gun any good.

take your time and build up to it. bad habits are almost imposible to break once developed. and they develope fast. I do on ocation teach shooting sports. I have seen some of the developments that accure from learning the wrong way, and I say to my self if I ever see this person in the woods I am leaving!!!

going from a .22 which shoots like an air gun to a .25 caliber is the difference in night and day, going from a .22 to biger than a 38 special is an entire different world all together.

most folks around here or any where will tell you I will joke about just about any thing, but not when it comes to firearms. (no joking)

You make some really good points Dave. I appreciate you taking the time to write such an informative and useful response. I think one of the most important things you've mentioned is taking our time. The last thing I want to do is have her develop a bad habit of flinching or being scared to shoot it when it really counts.. Threads like this are one of the reasons I love BFT. Everyone is so willing to share what they know and have learned. I will take all of your comments to heart.

For a Lady, I think that I would start with a .32 or a .38 with a 3 in barrel. There are several nice revolvers out there. Also if I was going to go with a wheel gun I think I would look into a double action. They can be cocked and fired single action or just pull for double. Although pulling double uses more muscle power and could cause pulling to the side. If you do go with a wheel gun even with todays nodrop safeties I would leave the chamber directly under the hammer empty. Also to go back to the Taurus they make several smaller semi-auto's in both 40 and 9mm. Also the do make a decent wheel gun and again less pricey that Smith or Ruger. But both are good weapons.

AUTO- pull the trigger once shoots several (many) times.

Semi- pull the trigger it shoots once (media wants to make you think otherwise) to shoot again [ 1 bullet] you must pull trigger again.

Revolver- Wheel gun. Just like the ones that John Wayne and Gene Autry used. Just not in 44 or 44/40 or 45. Oh yeah and after 5-6 shots you do need to reload. Unlike movies or television. Ha Ha. I still watch the western channel. Personally am thinking about getting into SASS. Single Action Shooting Society- the wild wild west shooting.

Revolvers today are alittle different than revolvers of old. Now revolvers are " dual action " meaning you do not have to cock hammer to fire like in the old west and also they are not just 5-6 shot anymore. Smith and Wesson sells 7-8 shot revolvers!

Most semi-auto's are only 10 shots now.

But you have to remember If you cannot hit drop something in the first shot or two you should not be shooting a gun. I go to range once a month. I shoot 38, 357 and 9mm.

I am marksman with 38 and 357 and shoot expert with 9mm. I did armed security for many years and was requirred to re-qualify with state yearly( until recentley)

I shot either marksman or expert 4 years in a row.

I used to teach shooting also. Dave mentioned going to outdoorslodge to get better info but I think we are giving good info.

Best thing to do is take shooting class and try out different weapons.

Taurus makes revolvers that are more than 6 shot also. Also they are more consumer friendly than Smith's. As far as their (Taurus)quality it is much better than it was 20 years ago. Since being bought out by Baretta (sp). The best home defense weapon is actually a pump shotgun in my opinion.

Also I would recomend practise with what ever is chosen. Shooting expert is not necessary but shooting often enough to be able to feel confident in the use of the firearm is.

Bearclaw, Personally and professionally I wear a Glock there is no substitute, but look more at the caliber, 9mm is good, but if your looking for personal and home protection look more at the 40 and 45cal if you can fit it in your hand,the knock down and man stopping power is documented, dont just take an old cops opionion, look it up. the Glock is a single action pistol, which means the same trigger pull each time, some pistols the first round is double action only, if your not familiar with that and you dont practice enough under stress (which will be the reason for the purchase of this weapon as you describe), your first and possibly only shot will be low. unless you practice alot, which you should do anyway. but do some comparisons, and serious shopping it is an investment of alot of money, and you have to be happy with how it feels in your hand as well as your ability to shoot it accuratly. go to a range and test shoot the guns you have narrowed your search too, then make your decision based on what you can shoot best. then practice practice practice. and above all remember practice gun saftey all of the times.

Bearclaw, I was with ST3 for four years in the navy, we used the sig P226 as our side arm. It is a tough gun that is easy to break down and clean when needed. I put it through some tough stuff and it just kept firing. I just finished reading your other posts, the sig sauer shoots the 9mm and it is very easy on the hands with very little recoil. We had some of our tech women learning how to shoot it and it was easy for them. Try it and you and her might like it. If not at least you could say you tried it. It was a good weapon, now I would really want anouther gun we used, the H&K MP5 now that was a good weapon!TO AIR IS HUMAN, TO HEO2 IS DIVINE

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MP5? As in Machine Pistol? If its the same one I'm thinking about, you are right. A sweet weapon. A little harder to conceal though. I appreciate all of your great suggestions Daniel. I'm still trying to decide. Decisions, decisions. I'm gonna check out the sigs. Particularly thep 226. Thanks again for your insight.

Just saw this post, and wanted to put my 2 cents in... Personally I do not like the Glock nor the S&W semi pistols, they have a composite frame and are harder to control while shooting. Put into a situation that is critical you would not want that. I have a S&W SVE40 40cal that is jumppy as all get out, I do not use that gun for protection, just scaring the rabbits. My wife shoots a sig P2 series in a 9mm, she loves it and I prefer to shoot it as well, built tough and takes a licken and keeps ticken, I want a P series one in a 45 cal. They have a metal frame and you can feel the difference. But I must agree home protection you want easy to use and accurate; locked and loaded and ready to take care of business. I know in SLC some of the gun shops will let you shoot their used guns, specifically Dougs Shootin sports. I would go to a shop that you can shoot them and demo different calibers and different manufactures. Just remeber though you only want to pull the trigger once and you want to make it count and not let the round end up in your neighbors house. Dougs also offers a conceal carry course, make sure you have Terry Tate teach it, that is fantastic and free if you purchase a hand gun; also they offer free child/adult saftey classes that teach the kids to not touch and the adults on proper storage. I feel both of those types of classes should be mandatory before anyone purchases a gun.

I really apreciate your input. I have heard good things about the sigs. I still haven't made a final choice yet, so I'll have to give it a go. I'm going to impact guns on tuesday adn I'll see if they've got one to rent. Thanks for the recommendation on concealed carry course, but thats already complete, along with a course on home saftey. I found the courses interesting, but can't say I really learned a lot. I've been around guns my entire life and the best saftey tool is common sense. Something that isn't all that "common" among certain types of gun owners. I agree strongly with you in that education is a major contributor to gun saftey. I'll keep you posted on the purchase.

I just stumbled onto this post and was going to put my two cents in when I saw that icehole took the words right out of my mouth, well said!

I have a Glock .45 compact and love it! For many years I had a Colt Double Eagle (Double action .45 semi-auto) and loved it. I purchased a .40 caliber Compact Glock for a girlfriend at the time and she loved it. As I shot it more the trigger safety became a non issue. The Glocks are also pretty much indestructible! A few years (and girlfriends) later I ending up purchasing the .45 Glock, still have it today and love it!

As a target practice/home defensive gun I would definitely recommend a .40 or .45 caliber glock. Plenty of stopping power and a great all around gun!!!

I finally took the leap and made a decision. On saturday I went to a local indoor gun range in an effort to shoot a few of the models mentioned in the above posts. I shot the Glock 19, the Springfield XD and a S&W (can't remember the model).. All of these guns shot well and felt good. The message I got from all of your posts was that each person is different and personal preferences play a huge role. I really wanted to go with a 40 or maybe even a little bigger. However, I had to go with something that the wife could handle. The 40 seemed to have little more snap than the 9. The recoil was sharper and faster. Seemed like the 9 was a slower and more of a push like recoil. I thought it would be wise to stick with the 9 simply because I want my wife to enjoy this as much as I. After I shot these guns it was a total toss up as to which one was better. I ended up buying the Springfield XD 9mm, with a green on black. Bought another 50 rounds and went back into the range and had a great time and am very happy with it. Thank you everone for you advise and sharing of experiences. Here's a picture

CONGRATULATIONS! I hadn't seen this gun before. It looks almost identical to the Glock (even has the trigger saftey). You are right about the .40 having a bit of snap. The 9 is a good happy medium for you and your wife to enjoy.

How did this gun stack up price wise to the Glock? If it is a bit less expensive and comprable qaulity (Springfield is typically great quality) then this may be the way to go for people looking at the Glock also. What was the magazine capacity on the .45?

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